Best tutorial on lighting I've seen so far for B&H over the past year. Honest, lots of info. Thank you James.

I understand the comments about how it sounds like he is scolding you. However, I really did get more out of this video than almost all other videos I have watched. This was gold.

This has got to be the best video I've seen for lighting. With full explanation and demonstration.

THE BEST LECTURE I have seen. Few minutes were worth more than dozens of lectures presented by others. A bit pity of personal style, but only kids aren't able to distinguish content from personality

This is the single most important lesson on lighting I've ever seen. Gold dust! Thank you very much!

Altogether, this is the best basic lighting video I've seen on KZfaq. Thanks for the quick p;lug for PPA. * I wanted to go to Brooks, but my Dad wouldn't go for it. That was late '60s. I used constant lighting in the'50s, and I don't do weddings. I hate weddings. Nor do I shoot video except I may start a KZfaq channel. But that's it. No other videos. But that's me. Hordes of photographers do shoot video, and do weddings. To each his own.

High energy! Driven, and passionate! Great teacher, with a wealth of real world, applicable knowledge. . I have learned more about lighting in this 1 hour seminar, than I have in 5 years. Thank you for sharing your experience and making this memorable! John Kaddouri

Daaang he’s good! Best explanations I’ve ever seen.

He's talking the inverse square law in the beginning but the way he explains it makes a lot more sense then every other video I've heard thus far

Best video on indoor lighting I've ever watched on KZfaq. Thanks master.

Liking the 'hardcore' presentation style because 'Master of Light' JS knows what he is talking about! Very informative.

Wow! This might be one of the most helpful videos/seminars that B&H has ever put out.

Egomanias do not like the instructor's style. But he is the best and he knows it. I love this guy. He tells it like it is. No sugar coat.

One of the best lighting tutorial

Great video, very informative. Thank you.

i love that expo disc. it works really great!

Awesome vid. I liked the level of explanation and detail with live demo. The dos and do nots of lighting.

Thank you logan, you look great.

Thank you, James excellent demonstration I only wish the cameraman should us the angle that you were positioning the light stand. By the way, ​some of the comments are uncalled for. your style is great

Awesome tutorial class.

Great lesson worth listen. Lot of informations.

Great lighting lesson!

Wow!! Incredible amount of info packed in that short amount of time!!

great lesson! great teacher!

Hey Jim. Nice instruction.

Great information, if you can take a good scolding. Maybe he doesn't often give lectures of this kind. And of course most viewers don't have a garage full of modifiers so will have to move what they have closer to increase 'size' and soften the light. "Just buy a bigger one"( 7:40) -- Um, nope. The concept that your light has 'depth of field' is a great math-free way to conceptualize the inverse square law -- very useful, though it could have been better presented. He also makes a great point at about 49:40 about staying away from TTL, which I completely agree with, for in-studio work anyway. Watch this in 15 minute chunks, or risk developing PTSD. While exhausting, he presents technical information that can be hard to find on KZfaq.

James is awesome; personality mixed with education!! Thanks for having him on!

Excellent. Very well presented.

Brilliant teacher! Thank you!

Great video. Truly inspiring.

This guy is a freaking beast!!!

thank u for video - anybody knows name ? brand of lights in the end of video ?

Amen on fall off. * Diffusers will soften shadows some. Try it outside with/without sometime & you'll see softer light with a diffuser. However, size matters. The larger the light relative to the subject does make softer light. But so does "spreading the light" with a diffuser. * Some speedlights do have modeling lights. The Godox V1 has one. It isn't perfect, but it works well enough. Everything else is right on point, rxcept bouncing light off the ceiling does work if it's back far enough and some light goes forward. I can send you examples. But again, the reason the Godox V1 head flips back past vertical is to bounce off the back wall without having to rotate the head. Great instruction and a sense of humor too! :-) * Casablanca! Great movie.

Would you please bring him back soom to teach posing. When he moved the light to feather it, I just went wow!Thank you.

He is irritating and arrogant, but I learned a lot. He has great knowledge, he is just hard to listen to. I am glad I watched the video, because I have not found much of the information he shares anywhere else.

Schmelzer is griping at everyone in attendance like he's told them 1,000 times. Time for a med check.

Style aside, this is indispensable information. I'm tempted to watch this demo at least once a week until I get it down. I've never heard lighting explained this way. I like the simplicity of it. My biggest concern, though, is general about photography. In my view, photographers should actually demonstrate on everyday people more often, not just fashion models/young women--especially if they're going to preach how important it is for us to learn by photographing everyday people in real-world situations. (Thanks. Had to get that off my chest somehow. It's been bugging me for a while.)

Fantastic sir! Thanks for the knowledge shared.

Ok, one issue. You can shoot 6k video and just pull still images out of it. Of course, you can take the image out of the video but you have to account for motion blur. When shooting video, We like to see cinematic images at 24p 1/48th. If you tried to pull still you would get lots of blur if you have any movement. At 60 you will be at 1/120th. That helps, 1/200th or better would help for action. But you pretty much have to choose. Do I shoot Video or do I shoot photos? I know this because wedding clients sometimes assume I can just get stills from my video clips. Great light training video BTW.

Actually have not watched it yet, but the opportunity to be first in the comments could not be resisted. Likely to be very good as are most BH event tutorials. Very strident and pushy. And pushing product. But lots of good stuff, if you can make it past the bad stuff.

WOW😀👏👏👏

Useful approach and good basic info. One thing, I assume that you are into music and Eric Clapton by virtue of using him as an example. While I get and agree with the benefit of learning the fundamentals of many things and forming a base before branching out into exploratory learning, that is not the only viable path. To wit, Eric Clapton. Although he grew up with his adoptive family who were into music and he tried his hand at piano and such with them, he was substantially self-taught-especially related to guitar and rock music in general. Similarly, many of the best photographers were inspired by, and some even worked with others during their early days. However, many were either substantially or completely self-taught. Now-a-days I see almost as many seasoned classically taught professionals as I do self-taught’s doing things the hard way, or even the wrong way for what they are trying to achieve. This is not surprising since the definition and learning of self-taught has changed so much with all of the useful information made available. In fact, even the idea that you learn classically and the do professionally is disappearing, and being replaced by life-long learning and doing while evolving as a professional. Asa result, I notice that there is so much more creative expression with some of the latest breed of professionals; and this seems to be true regardless of whether they are doing photography, videography or cryptography. So, while rudiments are generally quite important for thing like percussion/drumming, the mix of classical verses creative exploratory immersive learning varies towards the other end with things like photography, painting and lighting. This is not to diminish the value of classical training/education, but rather the importance of not letting classical training and methods get in the way of trying and doing things differently, in your own creative way, rather than doing based on programmed methodologies. I know that the 5 years of intensive computer science, digital media and related studies in college, followed by several years of working with other classically trained professionals provided huge benefits that I am thankful for. However, it also biased me against self-trained people who I initially saw as doing things the “wrong” way. Over the years I have learned what my martial arts sensei once told me- “you can learn more from watching the white belts than the black belts.” I had thought he meant because they make more mistakes. However, I now know that he was referring to the fact that they were doing, learning and reacting in the moment through creative exploratory learning, rather than the well-trained black belts, who were substantially just reacting based on programmed responses and muscle memory. Both are good and useful approaches, but I have seen that, just like the best media and other professionals, the ones most widely recognized for their achievements are the ones that can keep learning and experimenting, rather than letting their prior training jade them into believing that what they were previously taught is the best, right or only correct way to do something- as that is rarely correct, and definitely contrary to creative learning and expression. That seems to be a lesson that anyone who wants to keep evolving creatively and professionally should learn; as it provides the path to continued learning, beyond just being satisfied that you are not making “amateur mistakes”.

There are many advantages to using strobes, and add strobes with modeling lights and you have the best of both worlds for PHOTOGRAPHY. No, sorry, we are not all photographers and videographers. I get that HE likes using constant light, and that is fine. But for higher quality photos (NOT VIDEO) you want more light, and that can be uncomfortable for the models if using constant light. You don't need to be ready for video work if you are not WANTING to do video work. And most photographers do not want to be videographers. So no, strobes and even speedlights will not "go away". You can do things with them that frankly is very difficult to impossible with constant light. And every techniques he talks about CAN be done with strobes and speedlights. Sure, constant light can make it easier and faster to see what the result will be, but again, there are things that strobes and speedlights can do that are difficult or impossible to do realistically with constant lighting. So take what he says about technology with a grain of salt. Focus (no pun intended) on lighting techniques and why they work and apply that to the equipment YOU have and use. And I will not get into the whole fact that the best photographer does not get the client by default and WHY we see so many crappy photographers get paid over and over (ok maybe I will just a little in a bit LOL). And yes, who and what you shoot (his famous person remark, and why it is SO wrong) matters. A mediocre picture of a famous movie star will net a photographer more business than a fantastic photograph of a random person who is average to below average in looks (this also applies to non-famous people, but where they fit in the spectrum of attractiveness by normal social standards, but being a famous person kicks that up even if NOT attractive). By all means be the BEST you can be, but don't be fooled into thinking that to make money that is all that is important. Sadly it is not. And yes, most photographers (who are trying to make a LIVING doing so) will spend a lot of time pulling out their hair seeing sub-par photographers getting clients that every other photographer knows are NOT VERY GOOD (and sometimes horrible), who should be "our" clients. We don't work in the same market that was there 30 years ago. And sadly many already established photographers don't seem to realize this. They will scoff (as he did) about everyone being a "photographer" now days, and they are RIGHT.... but they don't have to really compete with those people; the rest of us do. But that is another matter, and one I have not seen honestly discussed in many videos online. Sadly though, that requires leaving the feel good world of encouragement and being "nice" all the time (which sells equipment), and entering reality as it is expressed in the industry/market place. I personally think that is fine for those not seeking to make a living doing photography, but it hurts those who want realistic expectations in a market that is so over-saturated that it is horrifying, and that because the digital age and how people use photographs now days (on phones and laptops) has killed a good segment of classic professional photography. And it is why so many photographers have moved from classic studios in a classic locations, to mobile setups or in-home studios. And that also brings me to the first point I mentioned and why strobes and speedlights will NOT simply "go away". So again, take what he says with a grain of salt and separate techniques from trying to sell products (and dis others).

Nice talk but I am finding it difficult to agree with light distance, group shots are very different from portrait and understandably require different lighting.

I don't mind his teaching style, and I like what he is saying...but when he kept asking "WHY ARE YOU STILL USING STROBES?" It's because when we need to capture ACTION shots, LED's won't cut it, and least not yet.

nice video, but i'm just worried to the model being toast to your lighting.

RIP James Schmelzer 😢

Here here

He is an expert. I am ok with the way he speaks (the way his mamma spoke to him)

Hm. A bit too shouty I’d say. What was the message again?

His models always look terrified. He is exhausting to watch but worth the tips..

"I'm not going to stand up here and tell you how great I am", and then proceed to spend an hour talking about how experienced you are. Alright.

Who else was like “get to the darn lecture 🤦🏿‍♂️🤦🏿‍♂️🤦🏿‍♂️”

And your not going to do HSS with continuous light either.

My first experience of this "tutor". It is an orgy of hectoring, loud, didactic, dictatorial ear bashing. This man is a living migraine. The sadness of it is that his message and his lesson is both good and sound. Presented by a reasonable soft-spoken gentleman, this might be a good lecture. This martinet needs to reassess his approach. That poor girl..............

Well that's encouraged to invest more in strobes. Just to go against his advise.

48:37

I guess I don’t like his teaching style. We get it you’ve been around and know everything... That said after I got past his style of beating information into you I was able to learn a few things. Just not sure it was worth it. Lol

You Are Assume!

..

You can't teach what you have learned in 35 year in one hour! Don't ask so many Question of your audience. Showing were the light stand are and were you moved them would be very helpful. I Did enjoy it very much but you jump all over and confuse me.

he is so upset. lol!

His personality is depressing ugh! Respect for student is just as important as respect for teach! This is not FOOTBALL

Okay, can I just say that as much as I like trying to learn from these B&H videos, their editing absolutely sucks. Why would you pull away from the face and give me some wide or pulled back shot if the purpose of the tutorial is for me to see what the different lighting patterns are doing to the subject's face? Shouldn't the camera angle be directly on the subject's face? I mean, start at about 28:00. He's talking about Rembrandt lighting and where to put the shadow (and why it's not just about the triangle), but the camera is switched to a different position, leaving me to try to look at the projector screen which is slightly obscured by the Westcott Ice Lights. It's annoying and it's not the first or second video that shares this complaint.

What a load of BS..of course diffusion makes the light softer. Take a mola Setti, put a sock on it. It will be softer even though the size did not change. Please people ignore this pretender!

Why is this guy yelling at me? Lol

He says he's not going to talk about himself but thats all he's done in the first 5 min and then some. I, I, I....

look ar her eyes you can tell she is not happy

I get the feeling that people with sloppy lighting techniques are doing well for whatever reasons and he is upset that he has superior techniques but he has not gotten enough recognition in his profession. If you really want to be the best that you can be hang in there but I this is not for me.

Arrogant. I checked his site... his work is not that good.

I respect the instructor and have no doubt he is an amazing photographer. But judging him on this single video I have to say I don’t appreciate his teaching style. At times he is pushing a product and at other times he seems to be scolding the people in attendance or talking down to them. As a photographer myself I do understand the frustration that with today’s technology just about everyone thinks they can be a professional photographer. That the way to differentiate yourself from those people is to learn photography at a deeper more scientific level. What you must understand is that some people just have a natural gift and an eye for photography they just know how to make things work much like Joel Grimes. He will be the first to tell you he doesn’t really know the science behind lighting he just knows what works with his eye and the man is constantly experimenting and playing. James seems to bring up some good points here but it’s so hard to see through it because he’s talking a mile a minute and he is talking with a level of frustratration so it’s hard to pick up anything good here. If only he came in to promote a product but also have a lesson plan single one or two that he can focus on for an hour that would’ve been more valuable and more worth the time to watch this video. Therefore I can’t recommend this, watch something else.

He's like the Donald Trump of Photographers.

I can see he is educated but the reiteration and the feeling of the info being drilled into you is making me yawn. I mean, we get the shadow already but just go from point 1 to 2 without the looooonnnnggggg explanations!!!!!! Yawn!!!!!

B and H take this video down please. I am listening this as I am driving to my shoot. His arrogance and negativity towards other and top photographers is not acceptable. You should get people who motivate us and actually teach us something, not bash others and brag about himself!

He behaves as if he's the best in the whole world, so arrogant. He could pass on his knowledge, because he really does have them, in a nice way and attract admirers, but on the contrary, he gains antipathy.

I’m sure he means well and is a fine guy, but he does boast on himself. He lets us know how long he’s been doing this and how great he is. He’s not the personality I’d choose for a teacher.

Good information although I'm not agreed in a few points. This guy is irritating and unpleasant to listen. I couldn't finish to watch the video.

This guy is just too much! With utmost respect, he is way too cocky and he's not even that great. He's just a gear junky and too technical.

Well the same reason you tell a model she is beautiful you don't ask questions and tell people a straight up NO while you are teaching you don't chew freaking gum that's annoying as hell . His knowledge of the subject is good however I have learned from others that would disagree you don't always have the luxury of space I do however agree with the Photoshop comment get it right out of the camera less time behind a computer (non productive). If you have the thousands of dollars that lighting can cost then go ahead get the 2400 3000 4800 watt lights how many times are you going to use them etc... I did retain some stuff about feathering and metering I still will carry the meter time saver I am not an accountant I do catch myself sometimes getting right out of my head I guess from repetition.

Teaching style was a bit irritating for my tastes. 1000 words where 10 would have sufficed. Arrogance made assertions seem somehow less credible. I quit watching about one third the way through.

boring, boring, boring!!!!!!!! Rules are meant to be broken mate, get over yourself

I appreciate the info, but constantly insulting the people who came to hear you speak is a poor approach for a teacher.

Soory don’t like your teaching methods. Sounds quite rude to me